The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Damage Yourself in the Name of Generosity (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 30, 2020

Home Buying, Debt, Career Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. This is a show where we take more calls than any other talk radio show in North America. Why? You're the subject. We talk about you. Right in front of you.

We're not like your family. We talk about you in front of you. So you jump in and we'll help you. We'll laugh together. We'll cry together. And we'll get this done, baby. Because where you're at now isn't where you need to be. What got you here won't get you there.

And so you need a new plan. You need some new stuff, and that's what we're here for. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Now, when I say open phones, that's just an old talk radio thing I got in the habit of doing years ago. I need to quit saying it because there are never any open phones. But the subject is open. You get to choose. I don't tell you what to say, nor does Kelly,

and we don't have that many theme hour type stuff around here. However, we will at the beginning at the bottom of the hour. We're going to talk careers with Ramsey personality Ken Coleman. So if you have questions about jobs, jobs that you hate, jobs that you're stuck in philosophically, you want to know what to do to change jobs, you want to know about starting a new career, what that you hate, jobs that you're stuck in philosophically. You want to know what to do to change jobs. You want to know about starting a new career. What are the steps?

You want to back way back and whiteboard your life a little bit. The man, Ken Coleman, author of the number one bestselling book, Proximity Principle, and host of the ever popular Ken Coleman Show, will join us at the bottom of the hour for 30 minutes with me to take your career questions. And I'll answer some of them because I'm an expert on my opinion. So the phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Starting off this hour is Texas.

Ashley's calling. Hey, Ashley, how are you? I'm well. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I have a question. I wanted to make sure that I'm on the right track and I'm following the Financial Peace

University with your advice. Okay. I'm with my husband and I. We're going to purchase, I'm on the plan to purchase a home, cash. Okay. Paying off debt, of course, at first. And I want to make sure that I still should be contributing to the 401k percentage of at least 1%, and wanting to know if seven years is too long to be saving cash for that

help. Close. Generally, I get nervous after three, so seven starts to make me real nervous. I guess the younger you are, the more sense that would make if you're 50 and you're going to wait seven years to start saving for retirement that scares me if you're 20 it doesn't scare me as much do you understand yes so how are you those years we're paying i'm 32 and my husband's 36 and two of those years are paying off um a hundred thousand dollars worth of debt for the next two years oh so two of the seven the seven is Baby Step 2, not Baby Step 3.

Okay. Well, all right, that helps. Because basically what we're talking about is we tell folks get out of debt, Baby Step 2, 1 and 2, build your emergency fund, Baby Step 3, then start saving 15% at Baby Step 4. Before people get to Baby Step 4, sometimes they pause there and save up for a down payment or even go as far as you're going and save up and pay cash.

We call that Baby Step 3B. We try for that not to be much longer than three years in most cases, depending on the situation. So five years is what you're saying from the point you have your emergency fund in place until you have enough saved to pay cash. How much are you saving for the house? $200,000. And where do you live in Texas? Houston, Texas. Okay.

I guess it would depend on the neighborhood in Houston, Texas. All right. What goes through my mind, that's okay. If you want to do that, as long as you stay with it, and then when you buy your home, you're immediately at maybe step seven. And so you start loading up your investments from 40 years old and on. It's not 15% anymore. Everything's maxed out because you don't even have a house payment. So if you do your plan, that's what I would do.

An interim step you could do, there's two possible interim steps. I don't borrow money, as you've heard, and obviously that's what you're trying to do is to pay cash for a house. So an interim step would be to buy a house or a smaller house earlier and then trade up three years later. Perfect. With cash, you could do that or a nice little earlier and then trade up three years later. Perfect. Okay. With cash, you could do that or a nice little condo or something. Just get something where you've got – if you paid cash for a $125,000 condo

and then three years later you moved up to a $200,000 or $250,000 house with cash, that's probably going to get you to your plan faster, by the way, because you don't have any house payments. Perfect. And you wouldn't suggest a 15-year mortgage in the interim? Well, that's the other option. I don't borrow money, but I don't yell at people, as you know, for taking out a 15-year fixed where the payment is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay.

And so mathematically, philosophically, I don't borrow money, so that's not an option for me. Mathematically, if you can save up and pay off, pay cash for a house in 200,000 in five years, you could pay off a mortgage of that in five years. Okay. If you can save it, you could pay it off. And so if you put down a big down payment on a nice 15-year fixed and then you hammered it and it was paid off at exactly the same time you would have paid cash, but all during that time you owned the house, that's not a bad thing.

That doesn't put your picture in the stupid column. You know, that fits with what we teach. But it's the only thing. I'm so freaking boring because I'm so consistent. A hundred percent of the time, I do what I tell you to do uh you know or I have done it one of the two or I am willing to have done it or that kind of a thing so uh but the only exception to that is I don't borrow money for anything ever under any circumstances there is not anything that's ever going to get me back involved with some butt banker.

I can't stand them. I don't want anything to do with them. They took everything. They take everything. Their buildings are huge and your houses are small. I'm tired of them. I don't want any debt. And so, you know, if you guys want to go into debt on a mortgage, I don't yell at you for that.

But I'm going to make fun of you if you lease your car. I'm going to call you stupid if you're using a credit card. I mean, I'm going to, you know, it's not, but the one thing I'll give you a little slack on is a mortgage, but then turn around and put it on a 15-year and turn around and get it paid off in seven, and the average total money makeover follower, financial peace university graduate that plays through and actually does the stuff is paying off their home in 7.2 years the average millionaire in america the 10 000 millionaires that we studied pays off their home in 10.3 years that's the average nationally

so a paid off home is an indicator that you're heading towards wealth and the formula is real simple just stick a house payment into an investment calculator and see what it becomes after 25 years in your Roth IRA and mutual funds. Millions and millions of dollars. Ta-da. Your most powerful wealth building tool is your income. So that's where all that comes from. So good discussion, Ashley. Good discussion.

Thank you for bringing up the question and the clarifications on how to do things. And guys, here's the thing. What you need to grasp about what we're teaching around here is always why we say to do something. We're not a cult leader. You don't blindly follow what we teach. You need to understand why I'm saying to do this. And you go, yes, that is the truth. That makes sense.

So I'm going to do it. Adults devise a plan and follow it. Children do what feels good. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I love talking about companies that know how to do business right. You've heard of Grip6 belts, right? Well, if you haven't, it's the only belt you can get online with no holes, no flap, and no bulk. I'm talking weightless. And the buckles come in really cool designs and are interchangeable. I personally own a number of these belts, and they're so comfortable, you forget you're wearing it. Plus, these guys have a great story. BJ Minson started Grip6 on Kickstarter from his garage in 2014 and

now sells hundreds of thousands of these American-made belts to customers all over the world. As a mechanical engineer and a minimalist, BJ took his dislike for heavy, bulky leather belts that never fit right and created the Perfect Belt, a high-quality minimalist belt that gives the strength and support of a belt without even knowing you're wearing one i'm really proud of these guys check out this month's special coming up at the bottom of the hour ken coleman ramsey personality will be with us answering your career questions you have questions about changing your career growing your career uh getting out of a toxic situation. What's going on with you?

How can your life be better? Eighty percent of Americans say they don't like their jobs. So that means there's a bunch of you that have a question for Ken. So he's coming up at the bottom of the hour. We're opening up some lines now. If you want to jump in, we'll be able to work you into this second half of this hour with Ken. The phone number is 888-825-5225.

888-825-5225. Christopher is with us in California. Hi, Christopher. How are you? Better than I deserve, sir. How are you? Better than I deserve, sir. How can I help?

All right. how are you better than i deserve sir how can i help all right well i'm 22 years old and i have two siblings in high school right now and i'm just wondering what the best way to help them financially uh would be without like giving them just handouts why do they need help financially? Well, we can't pick our parents, and unfortunately our parents aren't very smart financially, so I know they don't have anything saved for their college fund or anything like that. So I might be in a spot where I'm able to help them now. Okay. So how much money do you have?

Well, I have $14,000 in savings. I make around $40,000 a year, but since I'm in California, that's basically $10,000 a year. Yeah, I agree. So what is it you can do and are thinking of doing to help them? Well, I have some ideas and I was hoping you could help me out, um, structure those, um, maybe helping them invest into a car so they can, you know, get a decent job and start working for themselves. I've also thought about matching, like if they save $500 into savings. Okay. You have a wonderful heart. You don't have much money. Yeah, and that's another reason. You have $14,000, and you make $40,000 adjusted for California's $10,000,

you know what you said, right? So it's not like you call me up and I have $2 million and I make $200,000 a year, and I want to help my kid brother in high school, okay? You're not mathematically, your pocketbook doesn't match your heart, and you have a wonderful heart. You have a wonderful heart. I appreciate you. So my point, I guess, is I don't want you to damage yourself in the name of generosity that goes beyond and makes

you financially unhealthy because you might you might be throwing good money after bad meaning you might not be able to affect this situation so my suggestion would be for you how can you help your siblings 90 coaching and cheerleading 10 money meaning something like you said i'll match if you save up a thousand dollars i'll put a thousand dollars with it for you to buy you a car a little two thousand dollar car and then you but you got to go get a job and you got to bank a bunch of that for college and you got to start working out a college plan and i'm going to work the college plan with you where you go to college debt-free because mom and dad aren't going to be able to pay for it.

And you're coaching and guiding, and you're using the little bit of money that you put into it as leverage to cause them to match and as leverage to keep your right to be very forceful in your influence on their money habits as their loving coach. Does that make sense? That's definitely made sense. Yes, sir. I want to buy permission to be up in your grill because I love you and I'm going to help you.

That's kind of the message, the underlying message. So how old are they again uh my little brother he's about to be a junior in high school crazy as it sounds he's about 16 and then my little sister she's a freshman she's uh she's 14 okay let's start it and it sounds something like this i'm going to give you two copies of Debt-Free Degree by Anthony O'Neill, number one bestseller on how to go to college without debt. Okay? You're going to give them to brother, and you're going to give them to sister,

and you're going to say, and there's a $50 bill the other side of these books when you give me a one-page book report that shows me you really read it. I don't know. Okay? That kind of stuff. Okay? So now we got the whole debt-free degree conversation started. You put a little money in their life. You put some coaching and love and cheerleading in their life.

And now the tussle begins. Okay? And then you walk for the next five years with them through jobs and saving and investing and school selection. And community college is largely, if not completely, free in most of California. So they're going to do their first two years in community college because they don't have any money. During that time, they're working 50, 60 hours a week while they're in school. Shut up. Don't whine. Work.

Pile up money. Get ready in state school out of state school don't go expensive famous school you can't afford it you are broke people and this is you coaching them and loving them because your mom and dad don't know how and you're choosing to step into that role and reparent them on this subject and then they're going to look back when they're 35 and go, my big brother saved my life. And that's what you want here. But you're not going to have enough money to write checks to save their life, but you can give them information and some money to cause it to happen, which is actually better, by the way. If you just gave them a million dollars, they're going to go screw it up because they don't know beans. So let's teach them beans.

All right, William is in Utah. Hey, William, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, how are you? How are you? Good. Good, how can I help? I'm just wondering if I should sell my truck. How much do you owe on it? $28,000. What can I help? I'm just wondering if I can sell my truck. How much do you owe on it?

$28,000. What do you make? $50,000. Yes. Okay. Okay. Let me tell you how I did that so you know why, not because Dave Ramsey said. You can't say Dave Ramsey told me to sell my truck. You got to say, I figured out that my truck was stupid.

Okay. And so I sold it now here's here's how here's what stupid looks like the largest thing that you and i buy that goes down in value is a car they all go down in value like a rock that's where chevy got that like a rock all right and so you're losing value hand over fist. And when you have more than half your annual income, translation, your truck, invested in things that are going down in value, mathematically it's very difficult because you have almost your whole freaking life going down instead of up. It's hard to build wealth. It's hard to be anything but broke.

Does that make sense? Yes. And your car is $28,000. You make $50, 50 000 it's over half are you single yes okay and it's a great truck i drove my raptor here to work today i love a nice truck i don't want a smart car my raptor eats smart cars as a snack okay so i'm with you dude i love what kind of truck is this uh 2017 ram 1500 eco diesel sweet nice you pull stuff with that uh not currently but in the future when i'm out of debt i would want to yeah okay you go back to that i'm just thinking diesel i know what you

why you did the diesel if you weren't pulling something that That's cool, man. It's a great truck. So if I was you, I'd be shedding a tear when I sold it. You going to shed a tear? Yeah, definitely. Yeah. The reason I'm struggling on selling it is I found you in November. I paid off about $7,800 in debt, and I've got about $46,000 in the 401k. So I'm just, it's really hard.

I totally understand. That's okay. Are you 28? 25. 25? Okay, good. I guess close. All right.

You're right there. You're doing like late 20s stuff, okay? That's why I said 28. You're right there so you know if you if once you figure out that if you'll live like no one else later you can live and give like no one else if you will drive like no one else later you can drive anything you want but right now this truck owns you you don't own it and that's why you call me because you already know that you already knew what you were going to do if you're smart you just want somebody yell at you and tell you to do it i love you man you can do this i'm gonna cry with you i'm gonna cry

with you guy's selling his truck man it's a manly hard thing to do sell your truck this is the dave ramsey show Listen, there are some basic things that you should be doing to take care of your family. A roof over their head, food to eat, even if it's rice and beans, a car to get you from A to B, and term life insurance. Term life insurance is an immediate need no matter where you are in the baby steps since your family is at no greater risk than when you're in debt. That's why I tell you to get 10 to 12 times your income in coverage to replace those lost dollars and do it with a 15 or a 20-year guaranteed level term plan

so you can make sure your family is protected long term. The only place I send you is to Zander Insurance. They shop all the top insurance companies, and they're committed to serving you. That's why I use them and why I've recommended them for over 20 years. Whether you prefer to work online or you need personalized assistance, you pick your path. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Please, please get this done done it is an absolute necessity joining me this half hour this is is the Dave Ramsey Show.

Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author of the book Proximity Principle. And he has a syndicated talk radio show now on about 40 radio stations on Sirius XM. We launched that syndication on the radio stations back last summer, so it's about nine months old. And Sirius XM has been booming for some time. And, of course, his podcast, The Ken Coleman Show, is absolutely exploding. Does an hour a day answering your questions about finding your passion. We don't like to call it that.

Finding your sweet spot in your career, doing something you love, answering people, helping them walk through the process of thinking clearly, giving them a framework to think and pick out where they're going. And, Ken, I'm always amazed. You and I were in a meeting on a conference call this morning. Eighty percent of Americans don't like their job. It comes down to really two key factors. Number one, you either have no connection to the work. It just doesn't matter to you. There's no connection to your heart.

Or you're in a very toxic environment, a leadership situation or a team environment with bad culture. And, of course, at Ramsey Solutions, we're so just maniacal about a healthy culture and good leadership it's what we do with Entrez leadership and so we know I think that's oxymoronic if you're maniacal about a healthy culture that's that's weird no it's good it means we we're serious we don't let anybody in right I know we're we're we're very intense and very intentional well here's what we know people don don't leave companies, Dave. They leave leaders. Yep, they do. Isn't that amazing?

Yep. You know, you can actually be in your sweet spot. It's not unusual for somebody to leave this company because they decided that Dave Ramsey's a kook. Well, sure. Because I've got to tell you, I'm either a genius or I'm a kook. Because I'm really nothing in between. Well, you're not normal. I'm not normal.

And that's good. And I don't leave you up for many options. You can't just go, he's a nice guy because that really is not on the list. He's wide open. Nobody says about Dave, I just don't know what he thinks about me. Dave, would you be more clear? Could you be more clear? Exactly right. Could you be more clear, Dave? Right. Exactly right. So starting today, tickets are on sale for our smart conference that Ken is speaking

at in Minneapolis. Oh, it's going to be fun there. This is going to be awesome. Why are we going to Minneapolis in November? What were we thinking? Because Minneapolis is hot, hot, hot. They are Ramsey people in Minneapolis. And hot in November.

Well, fair. That's fair. But they're on fire. I mean, this thing is going nuts. Yeah, it's a Ramsey town for sure. It really is. Yeah. Thank you, guys.

We appreciate the – we do. We measure all the metrics of marketing and all the brand penetration stuff, and Minneapolis is on fire. So we're excited to come there. All kidding aside, November the 7th with the smart conference it is an a day long event 8 30 to you're tired i mean you are you are exhausted mentally and emotionally exhausted because we are going to put the best communicators and thought leaders passionate speakers you you one minute will laughing, the next minute crying all day long.

Shaking your head, elbowing your spouse, wear your rib protectors because it's all day long. Les Parrott on marriage, Meg Meeker on parenting, Ken Coleman on careers, Dave Ramsey, Chris Hogan on, of course, millionaires. Rachel Cruz back from maternity leave. Oh, that's going to be fun. Yeah. See if she's got something important to say. Oh, I promise you. She's been around little kids for about a year, right? She's babbling.

Yeah. So it's going to be awesome. And Christy Wright, of course, always brings the house down. Absolutely incredible lineup. Smart Conference is coming to Minneapolis. Tickets go on sale today. A limited number of early bird general admission seats. Listen to this.

I don't know why we do this. This is dumb. $39. It's worth $390. I know. It's worth $39 to hear 10 minutes of Chris Hogan. Right. I mean, what are we?

That's just too cheap. It makes it sound like it's not valuable. We should charge more. $39 for the first number of limited early bird general admission tickets. You better go get those four. I changed somebody's mind down there. Once those prices are gone, prices will go up. Go to DaveRamsey.com, KenColeman.com slash events. You can get those. The Proximity Principle, we've got a new bundle on that if you're looking to change your career or grow where you are. Ken's number one best selling book, The Proximity Principle, will give you the plan you need to land the job.

And it walks you through. And we've got an exclusive deal only available at KenColeman.com. An autographed copy of the book, which means it has been devalued. That's right. I messed it up with a Sharpie. That's it. Little kids are told not to write in a book. I know.

Plus the e-book, plus the audio book. Those aren't written on. No. All for $25. This is a savings of over $35. That's a great deal. You get the e, the audio, the signed book, all joking aside. That's a nice package.

Very good. That's a good deal. It's the gift that keeps on giving. The marketing guys are like cheaping out on everything. That's right. Yeah. Okay. KenColeman.com.

And we're going to Orlando coming up April. What is it?il 7 april 4 april 4 april 4 smart conference 2 it's going to be incredible so we're coming there's still tickets available for that same lineup down there uh chris hogan les parrett christy wright king coleman anthony o'neill dr meg maker uh dave ramsay rachel cruz it's gonna it's a great lineup. Again, you will leave with information. We're not trying to tickle you and help you feel a little better. We want you to leave with stuff that causes you to think hard and change your life. You will lose several nights sleep, and that's a good thing. We're going to make you think.

We're going to make you plan and change your actions. And that's why Smart Conference is so fun. Not to mention, what an unbelievable group of speakers we get to hang out with. The energy in the room is great. We just take notes from the other speakers. We do. We've got a world-class band. You've seen many of our band members on the hottest reality music shows.

Our band leader, Chris Colley, was on The Voice. We plan every second of the moment on the stage for one thing. Life change. Yeah. To get you in a place where you go, you know what? I need to do something. I'm in a group of people. And when you start putting 12,000 people in a room and you start realizing I'm among people who are serious about making a difference in the world and making a change, whether it be financially, relationally, parent, your marriage, it's hard not to say, all right, it's time to make a change.

So it's a really wonderful day. It just occurred to me, though, we should be in Minneapolis in April and Orlando in November. We got the whole thing wrong. You and me didn't book it, so we're going to have to work on the team down here. Somebody's getting stuff bass-ackwards. Yeah, but come see us. It's a fun day.

There you go. That's absolutely true. Nathan's with us in Illinois. Nathan, your question for Ken Coleman. Yeah, but come see us. It's a fun day. There you go. That's absolutely true. Nathan's with us in Illinois. Nathan, your question for Ken Coleman. Hi, gentlemen. Thanks for taking the call. Sure. What's up?

So my question is about finding a side gig to add to my full-time job because my wife and I are in baby step two, and we want to destroy our debts. I'm trying to find a really good side gig. So my passion and what I do for my full-time job is I help leaders deal with people problems. So I'm in HR, and that's what I do. That's what I'm passionate about. And I'm trying to, you know, people problems, I mean, like poor performance and people acting a fool, things like that. And so I'm trying to translate that to a really good side gig.

But frankly, I'll take in side gig at this point. So what advice would either of you have for that kind of proposition? Well, I think you're off to a good start by identifying what you really love to do and what you're really good at is the other thing I'd like to see you add to the list. Here's why. The challenge you're going to have with this being a side gig is this is a consultant-type role, so consultative HR or consultative leadership role. So a leader would call you and say, hey, Nathan, I'm dealing with this. What do you think? And you're helping him deal or her deal with that people problem.

That's a tougher kind of side gig because it's consultative in nature. I'm just curious, do you have any other skill sets that would allow you to do stuff at nights and weekends because you've got that day job and this side gig is to drive more revenue into the debt funnel? And so I would be looking at everything you could do to bring in cash quickly. And my only concern I have about this particular skill or passion that you have is you're going to have to build this up over time. You can do it, but you're going to start with people that you know who trust you and your background in HR.

And so they go, oh, you can, in fact, offer this to me. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I need that extra help. And so what you got to do is spread the word. I'm looking to do some consultative stuff to help you with some HR, staffing, people problems. And if you get the word out, eventually people are going to go, hey, I need that help. It's a felt need in small business. It is.

In small business. So I would start knocking the doors on small business folk and say, hey, man, I can stand on the outside and be your cheerleader and your accountability partner and cause you to have the tough conversations that you need to have. And I'll show you how to have the tough conversations. And I come up with an hourly rate so you can quantify it. There you go. Good stuff. Ken Coleman with me this hour, Talking Careers. This is the Dave Ramsey Show.

One of my favorite parts of this show is hearing your debt-free screams. You guys are our heroes. You've kicked debt to the curb and you've saved for the future. Now we want to celebrate with you. If you have lived like no one else and are currently in baby steps four through seven, well, it's time to enjoy some money. And the perfect place to do that is on board our first ever live like no one else cruise in March. That's right, just a couple of months away. But

get this, it's not too late to book your cabin. So don't miss your chance. This Caribbean cruise is going to be an incredible seven days at sea on a stunning new ship with amazing experiences. I'm talking all of our Ramsey personalities and other world-class entertainers. We're stopping in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and Turks and Caicos. It's going to be an amazing, debt-free celebration designed just for you. Don't miss the boat. Head over to RamseyCruise.com today to reserve your room. Joining me this half hour, Ken Coleman of The Ken Coleman Show, host of the show and author of the number one bestselling book, The Proximity Principle. If you get in proximity to people, places, and things that are doing what you want to do,

hey, you might get to do them. That's how it works. Check that out. All right, let's go to Tiffany. Tiffany's in Illinois. Hi, Tiffany. Your question for Ken Coleman. Hi.

I am currently a stay-at-home mom. I have an LPN nursing license, and I always thought that I would go back into nursing after my youngest, who is now six, went to school. But then we moved away from family. So I didn't have that babysitter to rely on, you know. And so when my youngest went to school, I started substitute teaching at my children's local elementary school. And I really started enjoying it, but I don't know if that's something that maybe I should go into is teaching just so I have the flexibility of staying with my kids

and going to their sporting events, or if I should continue nursing maybe in a couple more years. Yeah, so let's just get to the uncertainty, because I think you're more certain than you actually think you are. But you're looking for some type of clarity or for us to say, yes, this is the right decision. So I want to have a little fun test with you that we do on my show. If I could guarantee you that you would be successful in nursing or in teaching and you'd absolutely love it, no way you'd fail, and you knew that you'd absolutely love it no way you'd fail

and you knew that you'd really love it but you had to pick one of them today which one would you pick i really don't know if i'd pick either one oh now we're really now we're really getting somewhere so now let's adjust that question if you knew tiffany that you wouldn't fail and you'd make the money you needed to make and you didn't have to commit for the next 30 years and I gave you that tomorrow, what would you pick? Oh, man. Say it.

I know you. If you had to pick your career instead of your kids picking your career, which one would you pick? Honestly, I think I would really like to go into business for myself oh now we're really having some fun because don't limit the rest of our conversation don't let kids schedule money qualify just let's just think about what it is you would want to provide because a business at its core, Tiffany, provides a solution. It's either in the form of a product or a service. What would you love to do?

Tell us. I would like to do like a bakery coffee shop. Oh, that's so fun. And tell us the why. I want people to hear you say the why. Give me the quick answer as to why you would want the bakery coffee shop as Tiffany's place. Why? I like, well, I first love to bake.

And I like to see the faces of people when they take that first bite into something that they know they're going to enjoy. Let me ask you a question, Tiffany. Are you pretty good at baking? If I had some of your baked goods and I put it on. My mouth's watering. Are you good at baking, Tiffany? I think I am. You are.

I haven't had any complaints. All right. So let me break this down. I want you in the audience to hear what you just said. You're good at baking. You love to bake. And the reason you love to bake is to see the result of somebody eating your baked goods and putting a smile on their face.

You have created something that makes somebody else happy. And that is a wonderful service. Now, here's the question. What is it going to take for you? And you don't have to answer this, but this is what you will have to answer over the days and weeks ahead, and I'm going to give you a framework and Dave will weigh in. What are you going to have to do to get to that point where you eventually have Tiffany's Bakery, for lack of a better, I know you'll come up with a much better name of your company, but what has to be true? I kind of like it. Yeah, you do like

that? Okay. And so what has to be true? Well, number one, you already know the basics of baking. You can keep working on that. You can watch YouTube videos. You can read some of the best baking books. There are things you can do to get better and hone your skill, right, Tiffany? Right. Absolutely. And then we'd have to eventually open up a place, but do we have to open up a place? Do we have to rent a place or buy a place to actually start Tiffany's Bakery? No. You just need to start baking stuff and start selling stuff every place you can.

I call this the law of the zip code. Everything Tiffany needs to get started is already around her, and she just needs to start baking and selling. And so the question becomes, how long will it take for that to become that amount of money that you want to make? And so do you need to work right now to bring in a certain amount of income? That's the only question I've got. Yeah, right now we're in baby step two. We've got about $20,000 left on consumer debt and then just our house. Okay. Could you step into nursing right now? Are you qualified to step right back into it

if it was just a day job and it was for a season to pay off that debt really quickly? Yeah, I could. I'm staying pretty busy with the school though. Yeah, you might more in nursing. That's my... I do, yeah. yeah i could i'm staying pretty busy with the school though and i really make more nursing that's my i do yeah here's what i would like for you and your husband to discuss over dinner if you jump right back into nursing we ramp that income up quick we pay off the debt fast we stay in nursing a little bit longer to put aside the money to start the bakery 12s for nine months that's it 312s for nine months and then's it. Three 12s for nine months, and then you'll be there. And I think the nursing funds the bakery.

Could easily. If she wants to stay with it. You do three 12s for nine months. That's not killing your kids. That's right. It's three days a week. It's a lot of work. You'll be tired, and you'll be done with your debt, and then you're positioned to do the baking. And it won't take a lot of baking to beat a substitute salary

no so you you can give away half of it oh by the way sorry you need to be baking while you're doing the nursing you know you take one you say i'm gonna take one saturday a month and i'm gonna bake and you go ahead and start tiffany's bakery you can start that facebook page that instagram page tonight yep you know so you don't have and you can start giving it away to all the nurses while you're nursing. That's a great idea. Just pass it around. By the way, send a box to Dave and I.

We'll eat it. We won't promote it, but we'll eat it. Yeah, we will. We'll do both. You're obligated now. It's your idea. Oh, no. Well, you know, I can always be bought with baked goods, Dave.

You can be bought. Yeah, you can be bought cheap. I'm just saying. But, you know, that's the encouragement. One good cupcake, Tiffany. You'll get him. I'm just saying. Well, that's the the one good cupcake tiffany well that's the truth i need i need six of them but he needs one right right just one for me i love it congratulations tiffany i want to hear about tiffany's bakery later it's time for tiffany to go and we'll hear a debt-free scream yeah and a launch that's it i love it everyone's hand in glove very very well done good good coaching ken erica's in tex Hey, Erica, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Your question for Ken. Hi. Thank you for having me. My husband works for the church, and we are both in love with our church but tired of his job. He's worked there for five years and never had a raise. And we both feel that he's underappreciated and overworked. That's pretty much church work, yeah. But he loves what his job title is. He doesn't get to actually do much of that. He's an audio engineer. Audio engineer. Okay, so he loves that, but he's not getting to do a whole lot of that.

So he's an underpaid, underappreciated audio engineer. Okay. Right. I don't know how to help him. He's telling me that there's not a lot of jobs in that field. Where do you live? Houston. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. Nobody needs an audio engineer in Houston. Yeah. Come on. What is it, the fourth largest city in the United States? I mean, listen, here's how I think you need to help him. I think he's just discouraged, and I think he's probably a good bit scared to try something new, because he'd rather dance with the devil he knows than kind of step out into something

he doesn't know. Do you think I'm right? This is a church. You're just a devil metaphor in a church. I know. It's true there. The devil's there, too. Believe me.

Come on. Yeah. So I think what he needs to understand is that you believe in him and that you completely support that he needs to get out of this situation. He is experiencing two causes of buildup on his heart. He needs to go on three interviews in the next three weeks. Yeah. I mean, this is the hottest job economy we've had in the history of the United States.

3.5% unemployment. We've got more jobs available than people who are unemployed. You're in Houston, Texas. Audio engineer. And I'd say this. I'd even take some type of tech engineer, lighting engineer, anything to get him over there until the right audio engineer job opens up. But he can move forward today, and he needs to.

He's going to get a raise when he moves, period. He's just scared. Yeah, that's all it is. He just doesn't believe. But the marketplace is there. It's wide open. And from Ken and I's seat, it's an easy play. Go get a new audio engineer job quickly.

You know, that's it. It's that simple. Not mad at the church. He doesn't want to work there anymore. That's right. Okay. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. Ken Coleman, thanks for dropping by.

It's good to be here. Thanks, Dave. Minneapolis. Wow. November 7th. Smart conference is coming, boys and girls. Line it up. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for the Dave Ramsey Show.

If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.